EA launches Boss Mode for ‘Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare’ on Xbox One (video)

EA announces Plants vs Zombies Boss Mode, lets you control your shambling hordes

On top of showing off the new graphics for the upcoming Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare blockbuster, EA has announced a Boss Mode at its Gamescon 2013 liveblog, exclusively for the Xbox One. A trailer for the new feature showed a Svengali-like being controlling his zombie hordes while discussing plans for world domination, all with stunning in-engine graphics (see the video after the break). EA said you'll be able be able to use Boss Mode with SmartGlass and Kinect for the Xbox One when it arrives, mirroring an earlier Fighter Within announcement. Meanwhile, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare will debut on the Xbox One and Xbox 360 first, and pre-orders are now live for $30 on Origin, at the source.

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Source: Origin

EA Gamescom 2013 liveblog!

EA Gamescom 2013 liveblog!

As one of the big three third-party publishers working on next-gen games, Electronic Arts is understandably making a big push at its annual Gamescom press event. Per usual, we'll be on the ground bringing you an enthralling liveblog straight from Cologne, Germany. Keep your eyes locked to this post and your browser refreshing feverishly, as the goings get going at 10AM EST.

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EA’s Origin store now allows downloaded games to be returned within a week

EA's Origin store now allows online games to be returned within a week

Gamers have been choking lately on some of the restrictive DRM for upcoming consoles and titles, but at least EA is offering some relief. It just announced that its Origin store now features the "great game guarantee," letting you return downloaded games after purchasing. You'll have 24 hours to send it back, digitally speaking, after you first launch the game, or seven days from the date of purchase (or release date for pre-orders). By contrast, Steam offers no refunds or exchanges on any of its games. Origin's new policy is now available in 20 countries, but only applies to EA-published games and not downloadable content. There's also a clause for any "abuse of the refund process," so if you're looking to see how many games you can beat in a day, you may wanna rethink that.

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Source: EA

Get your Electronic Arts and Sony PlayStation liveblogs here today, live from Germany

Get your Electronic Arts and Sony PlayStation liveblogs here today, live from Germany

Haven't got your fill of all things next generation? Well, stay tuned because Gamescom 2013 promises to shed a little more light on the coming console war and we're bringing the news to you live. While Microsoft's shied away from throwing a full blown presser here in Cologne, Germany, rival Sony's still got some PlayStation 4 (and Vita) secrets to share with the world at 10AM PST / 1PM EST today. But let's not get ahead of ourselves: Electronic Arts is also doing it up properly for this Euro-centric industry tradeshow, hosting its own live event at 7AM PST / 10AM EST. You can catch all the news as it happens at the times below.

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Microsoft shows off next-gen Kinect motion and voice capture in Xbox One’s Project Spark

Xbox reveals Project Spark personalized voice and motion capture

Microsoft just flaunted some of Project Spark's gaming powers at Gamescom 2013 in Cologne: motion and voice capture. If you'll recall, the platform enables gamers to create their own digital spaces for games using the Xbox One's integrated Kinect sensor and the upcoming SmartGlass. Microsoft's Team Dakota group showed how to use facial capture, body motion capture and voice and sound to create animations, dialogue, cut scenes and more. You'll be able to try it yourself on Windows 8 at the end of October 2013, or by January 2014 for the Xbox One. Check the video after the jump to see the fruits of their labor, but maybe turn the volume down a hair. Just sayin'.

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Source: Xbox

Xbox One bundles in Europe include ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’, free copy of ‘FIFA 14’

Call of Duty Ghosts gives a preE3 preview of nextgen FPS action video

If you're in one of the European Xbox One launch countries, Microsoft has just announced a couple of enticing bundles at GDC 2013. First off, Xbox and Activition/Infinity Ward are tag-teaming for a Call of Duty:Ghosts bundle for the new console that'll include exclusive "special bonus content" (no pricing is available yet). Another bundle includes FIFA 14, which will be given to pre-order customers for free, including those who've pre-paid "until now and from today." Redmond added that it'll keep the latter offer "while stocks last," but also mentioned that it would be a digital version. So, we hope they don't run out of... electrons, or something.

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Fable Legends, Kinect game Fighter Within headed to Xbox One (video)

Microsoft says Fable Legends, Fighter Within will arrive to Xbox One video

Microsoft is having its big Gamescom 2013 shindig at Cologne, and just announced some new Xbox One game titles. Fable Legends, which our sister site Joystiq espied earlier, will arrive exclusively to the new console, along with Fighter Within. The latter title (also previously rumored) takes advantage of the new Kinect sensor to allow total body "kicks, punches, throws" and more. Both are set to arrive for the holidays, likely around or just after the Xbox One itself launches (that date is still uncertain). Meanwhile, check the video trailer for Fable Legends or info about other games after the break.

Update: Although many expected one, Microsoft did not give a precise date for the Xbox One retail launch at its event. Shucks!

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Hands-on with the smaller, less expensive 7-inch Wikipad (video)

Handson with the smaller, less expensive 7inch Wikipad

When the Wikipad went from 10.1-inches to just 7-inches earlier this year, subsequently cutting its price in half alongside the size reduction, the gaming-centric Android tablet went from riskily priced potential failure to affordable item of interest in one swift move. $500 for a 10.1-inch tablet with a proprietary gaming controller peripheral? With a Tegra 3, no less? That already sounds outdated, and at $500, it sounds outright crazy. Though Wikipad promises a 10.-1-inch version is still in the works, the 7-incher is headed for retail in the coming weeks, with the aforementioned Tegra 3 quad-core SoC, a 1,280 x 800 IPS screen, Jellybean 4.1, and that enormous detachable game controller (12 buttons in all!). At last week's Game Developers Conference, we had a chance to check out the latest version of the Wikipad just ahead of its retail launch -- for more on that meeting, join us beyond the break.

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Visualized: Unreal Engine 4 ‘Infiltrator’ demo gives an impressive peek at next-gen gaming

Visualized Unreal Engine 4 'Infiltrator' demo gives an impressive peek at nextgen gaming

Just in case you missed it last night buried in our interview with Epic Games VP Mark Rein, the company showed off a new real-time demo at GDC 2013 this week, titled "Infiltrator." The nearly four-minute clip, showcases a sci-fi shootout created with its Unreal Engine 4, and remarkably powered by a single GeForce GTX 680. Now that we've piqued your curiosity a bit, check out this gorgeous display of futuristic espionage after the break, plus a bonus clip of the "Elemental" UE4 demo running on a PlayStation 4 dev kit in real-time.

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Hands-on with Divekick’s minimalist two-button controller (video)

DNP Handson with Divekick's minimalist twobutton controller video

Just a couple days after we got our hands on Tenya Wanya Teen's crazy 16-button arcade stick, we were treated to its polar opposite; Divekick's two-button controller. Created by Iron Galaxy Studios just to show off the game at PAX East, the controller consists of two buttons slightly larger than the palms of our hands; the yellow one denotes a jump or dive, while the blue corresponds to a kick. As a parody of the fighting genre, Divekick's gameplay avoids complicated combo moves, is incredibly simple and immensely enjoyable, if we do say so ourselves.

Unlike traditional fighting games, the health bars are essentially meaningless, as a single power hit can take down your rival. Therefore you're focused on just the most basic movements -- a common one involves jumping in the air, tapping the other button for the downward kick, and then tapping it again to fly backwards. As for moving your character about, a jump and kick combo will get you charging towards your foe. Some characters let you fly when jumping, while others reward pressing buttons simultaneously. From our few minutes mashing the controller, it seems that timing and position are more important than ever with such fundamental mechanics, and ones that we picked up pretty quickly. We especially enjoyed kicking our adversary in the head to make them dazed and vulnerable in the early seconds of the next round.

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